A divided Chicago City Council on Monday approved Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s $16.4 billion 2023 budget that will serve as her re-election platform despite complaints that it shortchanges public safety, climate change and her own progressive promises.
Lightfoot cut in half a property tax increase tied to the rate of inflation, then eliminated that $42.7 million increase altogether in hope that it would pave the way for the easiest budget vote of a four-year term marred by the pandemic and civil unrest.
As the debate got under way at around 10:40 a.m., the opposition was clear.
Ald. Daniel LaSpata (1st) took Lightfoot to task for spending only a fraction of the federal money appropriated for an array of social programs in last year’s budget.
“It was deeply frustrating” to learn how little money has gone “out the door” for such vital programs as domestic violence and youth outreach, La Spata said.
“It’s important that, when we have the money, we spend it. Not only allocate the money, but use it.”
LaSpata went on to say that “a lot of the asks” by the Council’s Latino Caucus “seem to have fallen on deaf ears.”
“I worked hard to get to a budget I could vote ‘yes’ on. That’s not where I’m at today. … If this is supposed to be a reflection of our values, this is not it,” he said.
Even South Side Ald. David Moore (17th), who supports the mayor’s spending plan, was not happy about what he called the tens of millions of “carry-over dollars.”
“We must make sure that we’re spending dollars in those years that we’re telling people we’re gonna spend it,” Moore said.
“We can’t wait until we’re dealing with a crisis. When we have money, let’s get it out so we can care for the people.”
Ald. Gilbert Villegas (36th), Lightfoot’s former City Council floor leader, was also on board. Still, Villegas “longs for the day” when the mayor proposes her budget, City Council members counter with their version and negotiations begin to reach a compromise between the two.
Noting that a sense of independence is brewing in a City Council in transition, Villegas told his colleagues: “Don’t be afraid to embrace it. Stand up.”
Retiring Ald. Tom Tunney (44th), who declared his opposition to the budget, in part, by noting the Town Hall police district in his ward now has 285 police officers — down from 415 under when Rahm Emanuel was still mayor.
“My residents don’t feel safe. [Police] morale is at an all-time low. People do not go out at night anymore. What kind of city are we living in? … I’m very worried about the direction of our city and the leadership of our police department,” Tunney said Monday.
“We are definitely at a crisis. It’s not a money crisis. It’s a lack of leadership. We have to do better to keep people safe. They don’t feel it. … I’m not afraid to vote to increase taxes. But I demand accountability for residents that I serve and they feel shortchanged, to say the least. People are disgusted about their inability to walk their dog and go out at night.”
Progressive alderpersons who helped the mayor pass last year’s budget after she beefed up social programs are now lining up behind mayoral challenger Brandon Johnson while Hispanic alderpersons are preparing to support U.S. Rep. Jesus “Chuy” Garcia (D-Ill).
But opposition to the mayor’s budget goes deeper than mayoral politics.
Downtown Alderpersons Brian Hopkins (2nd) and Brendan Reilly (42nd) and Far Southwest Side Ald. Matt O’Shea (19th) firmly believe that with violent crime foremost on voters’ minds, Lightfoot’s budget does not do nearly enough to hire new police officers and stop the mass exodus of veteran officers — 949 retirements through Sept. 30 this year.
In the run-up to the budget vote, Lightfoot went on the offensive against all three alderpersons. She accused them of attempting to have it both ways — supporting law enforcement and the crackdown against violent crime but opposing a budget that includes “a lot of additional supports to strengthen the effectiveness” of law enforcement.
Reilly fired back during Monday’s debate, calling himself a “pro-police, pro-law-and-order” alderperson. For Lightfoot to claim he’s anything but is “intellectually dishonest and wrong,” Reilly said.
“This budget funds the downtown police districts that, combined, are down nearly 400 police officers since 2019,” Reilly said.
“More police cars are great to see. Replacing our aging fleet, having better vehicles is good. But those aren’t gonna do us much good if we don’t have the cops to drive them.”
Reilly noted the mayor’s budget triples — to $30 million — funding for CTA security.
“What do we have to show for this CTA investment? A system plagued by service disruptions, delay, crime and filth. Ridership scared to death to use our train system after rush hour and many more scared to use it during rush hour,” he said.
“Drug use, violence, sexual assault, strong-armed robberies. They’re out of control and they’ve become the norm. But please vote for a budget to subsidize this dumpster fire. I won’t do it.”
Six months ago, O’Shea proposed hiring and retention incentives — including signing bonuses, down-payment and mortgage loan assistance — to stop the bleeding. The ordinance has gone nowhere.
CPD now has 11,623 sworn officers, down from 13,353 shortly before Lightfoot took office. To date, 693 officers have begun their six months of training — nowhere near enough to keep pace with attrition.
The $64 million increase that Lightfoot has proposed for the Chicago Police Department—for a total budget of $1.94 billion — includes 35 civilian jobs, but no increase in rank-and-file officers. The 35 civilians will be assigned to the Office of Constitutional Policing charged with consent decree compliance and administering the training needed to get out from under federal court oversight.
“I don’t think we’re doing enough to try to hire more police officers. I don’t think we’re doing enough to try to retain the police officers that we have because twice as many are walking out the door as we are hiring,” O’Shea told the Sun-Times.
Even retiring Ald. Harry Osterman (48th) was outraged that just $5 million of the $85 million in violence prevention funds included the mayor’s 2022 budget has been spent.
“It’s inexcusable that we did not spend more of that money. We have to put that money on the ground in communities. We have to do it with a sense of urgency,” Osterman said Monday.
Black Caucus Chair Jason Ervin (28th), one of Lightfoot’s staunchest City Council supporters, countered that “COVID relief is a three-year program.”
“Is all of the money out the door? No, all of the money isn’t out the door.
Climate debate heating up
Policing was not the only beef about the mayor’s budget. So was Lightfoot’s failure to honor her four-year-old campaign promise to resurrect the Department of Environment disbanded by former Mayor Rahm Emanuel.
Lightfoot has inched closer to honoring that promise by beefing up her proposed Office of Climate and Environmental Equity — from six employees to 10 — and take those staffers out of the mayor’s office and put them under a director confirmed by the City Council.
The annual budget for the new office would rise from $778,929 to $1.04 million.
That’s not enough to satisfy progressive alderpersons demanding more urgent action to combat climate change.
Ald. Maria Hadden (49th) noted again Monday that her North Lakefront ward has lost “one-to-two feet of land with every winter storm from lakefront erosion and high water levels” in Lake Michigan. A tornado touched down in Rogers Park. And three women died during a heat wave in a sweltering building in the 49th Ward without air-conditioning turned on.
Declaring her intention to vote against the budget, Hadden said, “Yes, it does some great things. But, we could have done more. We could have done better—and we should.”
Budget Director Susie Park has maintained a “lot of work” must be done to “build out a robust” Department of Environment and pull together regulatory authority dispersed to other departments in 2011.
“What you see before you is that first step. We’ve added additional positions from what we originally started with. We are commissioning a study to really look at where all of those roles went. What do we pull back in? And hopefully in 2024, we will come back with a robust department,” Park said.
Ald. Carlos Ramirez-Rosa (35th) has branded Park’s explanation “insulting,” ”disingenuous” and “disrespectful to the people who voted for change.”
“We only get a ten-person office. Fewer staff than what’s budgeted for the mayor’s press team. What does that tell you about our city’s priorities while people are dying in record heat waves. While people are seeing their livelihoods destroyed in record floods, we have less people to tackle the issue of the environment than we do to send out press releases,” Ramirez-Rosa said Monday.
In an op-ed published in Monday’s Sun-Times, Ramirez-Rosa, Ald. Byron Sigcho-Lopez (25th), Rosanna Rodriguez (33rd) and two of their colleagues took Lightfoot to task for failing to honor her campaign promises to reopen shuttered mental health clinics and raise the real estate transfer tax on high-end home sales to create a dedicated source of funding to reduce homelessness and ease the affordable housing crisis.
“This budget continues to fail our most vulnerable,” Sigcho-Lopez, yet another “No” vote, said Monday.
“As federal funding will run out, we continue to fail to tax the rich.”
Sanchez, another dissenter, added, “We’re asking for things that are basic. We’re asking for things that are done in other cities. We are not asking for too much.”
Spending boosted by federal funds
With $152.4 million in federal coronavirus relief set aside to replace revenue lost to the pandemic, the mayor’s budget continues an unprecedented two-year spending spree, with, among other things:
• $242 million to “pre-pay” future pension obligations instead of making, what the mayor has called the “minimum monthly payment” on Chicago’s “pension credit card” while paying “compounded interest.”
Civic Federation President Laurence Msall has applauded Lightfoot for taking extraordinary action to prevent four cash-strapped city employee pension funds, three of them hovering near bankruptcy, from having to “sell assets in a down market” to meet obligations. But, Msall has argued that it shouldn’t let Springfield off the hook.
• A three-fold increase — to $30 million — in annual spending for the Chicago Police CTA Detail Fund in response to a wave of violent crimes on CTA buses and trains.
• $200 million to prevent homelessness, $155 million for affordable housing and $3 million to launch a “Tiny Homes initiative.”
• $5 million to support immigrants brought to Chicago from Texas and other border states and $3 million for “reproductive services” tied to the influx of women descending on Chicago seeking abortions outlawed in their homes states.
• $10 million to improve technology infrastructure.
• More fine and fee reforms, this time helping businesses and individuals saddled with administrative hearing debt.
• Pay raises of 20.5% — $161,016 — for the city clerk and treasurer, followed by annual increases capped at 5% or the rate of inflation, whichever is less.
Lightfoot has also proposed a similar annual increase with an identical 5% cap in the mayor’s pay that would raise the annual salary by $10,810 to $227,020. That increase would not take effect until Jan. 1, 2024.
One-time revenue boosts some spending
Despite the embarrassment of riches, there are warning signs for Lightfoot or her successor and a newly-elected City Council that will look dramatically different than this one. So far, 15 alderpersons have left or are not seeking re-election.
The budget includes a $395 million tax-increment-financing surplus, the largest in Chicago history and $124 million larger than last year’s TIF surplus. That one-time revenue includes $218.4 million for Chicago Public Schools and $98.3 million for the city’s corporate fund.
Lightfoot is also carrying over $220 million from this year’s budget surplus — compared to just $50 million a year ago — and counting it as revenue in 2023. That could spell trouble for whoever wins the mayoral election.
The City Council is also poised to sign off on:
• $1.85 billion in general obligation bonds to bankroll two more years of Lightfoot’s massive capital plan.
• A $336 million “Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation” loan from the federal government to replace lead service lines.
• Extending $250 million in existing authority to finance capital improvement projects and Midway Airport.
• A new line of credit as a mode of interim financing” and a $50 million line of credit to cover “unanticipated capital needs” at the new car rental facility at O’Hare Airport.
Monday’s earlier-than-expected budget vote clears the decks for the mayor to focus on her re-election bid after celebrating — as she has done three times before after budget victories — with steak, a Scotch and a cigar.
The City Council will now turn its attention to her plan to create a new transit tax increment financing to bankroll $950 million of the $3.6 billion cost of extending the CTA’s Red Line from 95th Street to 130th.
That will start Thursday, when embattled CTA President Dorval Carter Jr. appears before a City Council Transportation Committee whose invitations he has ignored for months.
Lightfoot is pushing for a final City Council vote on her financing plan by Dec. 31 to meet the requirement for federal matching funds.
